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SSlater · 07-30-2013, 11:57 PM

(07-30-2013 01:12 PM)L Verge Wrote: Welcome to the wonderful world of days gone by in Southern Maryland, John. Up until tobacco allotments and then the buy-outs of farms which started in the 1960s, it was pretty standard for one family to own a number of non-adjoining farms. After the Civil War, my great-grandfather (yes, here we go again!), Joseph Eli Huntt, owned the home place in T.B. with about 400 acres adjoining it; about a quarter-mile north, he owned a second, smaller farm (I think it was called the Woodlands); and he owned a 300-acre farm a mile southeast that was named Mary & Martha. Not only did he own the store and casket shop directly in the heart of T.B., but he owned a 600-acre farm named Gwynn Park that abutted the village. Finally, there was a farm about five miles away called The Vineyard. This amount of land stretched over miles gives you a good example of why tenant farmers and sharecroppers were so important up through the mid-1900s.

My grandmother inherited the home place and 400 acres as well as the family store and shop (which became a rental home), the Mary & Martha farm, and another 300-acre+ farm in St. Mary's County that came to her via her husband. This woman had a sixth-grade education, but she sure knew how to manage property. My mother inherited from her, but had to sell the 400 acres of woodland and the St. Mary's County farm in order to pay the estate taxes - the Lord giveth, but the government taketh away. Except for the 4.5 acres that the home place sits on, the last piece of property left our hands in 1988.

I'm sure that many of you can share similar stories and also ones about the intermarriage among prominent families and the joining of properties that can confuse the heck out of researchers.

I forgot to add: Locate Chapman's Landing near Indian Head in Charles County to see how near it is to some of these places on a nautical map. Years ago, there was a researcher from North Carolina who had a strong lead about Confederate agents using Chapman's Landing as one of their "go to" places.

Laurie. Chapman's Landing is in Chapman's State Park. Indian Head, MD. on Potomac River Western Charles County. Once owned by Nathaniel Chapman. House is called Mount Aventine. I haven't run into any Spy stories that mention Chapman's Landing. PS. To find more contact Smallwood State Park.